


Turn of the Tide

by hella_gent



Category: The LEGO Ninjago Movie (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Mermaids, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-14
Updated: 2018-08-16
Packaged: 2019-06-27 03:02:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15676704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hella_gent/pseuds/hella_gent
Summary: In which Garmadon, the Conqueror, is a big fish monster man and Koko is a marine biologist hired to stop him from destroying the local fish market.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hi yes i havent stopped thinking about this au for 3 days so im going to write about it. just an idea for fun so idk how often this will update.

She couldn’t kill him. It was what she had been hired to do, but she wouldn’t. Couldn’t.

From the stories that had been passed around the little fishing town, he was remarkable. A sort of shark so large, he need only lay across their small fishing boats and it would snap in half. Some said he had red eyes that would stare into your soul and paralyze you with fear if you saw him before he could attack. Others claimed he was a sort of crab or squid hybrid, having seen more than just fins on the massive beast.

The Conqueror was the name they had given him and with good reason. He was currently conquering their coast, taking all of their fish, destroying their boats and nets, and leaving them with nothing to sell and support themselves with.

Nevertheless, she still had no intention of killing him. It just made her job a little more interesting.

The trap Koko had set, she hoped, would hold him long enough for her to hit him with a tranquilizer so she could transport him to her aquarium on the other side of Ninjago City. when the Conqueror entered the small cave she had tracked him to, he wouldn’t realize he was being caged until the door had closed. That, or until he hit the back wall of it.

Koko hugged her dart gun to her chest, watching the water with baited breath. It felt like hours until it moved, the surface breaking to make way for possibly the largest dorsal fin she had ever seen on a shark rise from the water.

The door crashed closed. Before the sound had even reached her ears the water erupted in a flurry of movement. The Conqueror rammed against the walls holding him and Koko jumped to her feet for fear he would flip the cage and hurt himself. She raised her gun.

A _hand_ shot out of the water, then another, and _another, and another_. Finally, a head, flipping long hair from his face so he could snarl and hiss at whatever was holding him.

Both froze at the sight of each other.

_He really did have red eyes._ Bright, wide red eyes that stared right through her, set into a chiseled face. White hair and markings across his cheeks, nose, and chin contrasted harshly with the darkness of his skin.

Koko stepped into the water, lowering her dart gun to gape at him. The Conqueror pressed himself to the bars, closer to her, as she slowly, carefully, approached. She had never seen a mermaid like this before. They were rare, only found in certain areas of Ninjago, but the Conqueror was nothing like the graceful, energetic, and otherwise kind creatures she had seen. Koko raised her hand-

The Conqueror snarled, pressing harder to the bars to reach out and slash at her with his claws. Koko jumped back and raised her gun, firing with quick instinct.

That, of course, only made the massive fish angrier, screeching as he tore the syringe from his side and launched it toward her. It hit the bars of the cell and bounced uselessly back into the water. She couldn’t help but crack a smile at it, but it lasted the barest second when the Conqueror caught sit of it and screamed at her.

Koko moved back to her rock, watching him hiss and fit at her. She laid her gun across her lap and set in to wait.

It took an agonizing 15 minutes for the sedatives to take effect. The Conqueror still clung to the bars, but sagged, exhausted, them, half in the water. He stared across the water at her, his slow, drooping blink asking so many questions he himself couldn’t.

“Don’t worry,” Koko found herself saying. “You’ll be safe with me.”


	2. Chapter 2

_The pain from the shot to his side faded from his mind in favor of fighting. He had escaped Hunters much less than this woman before, did so on the daily. He would break himself free easily and then_ tear her apart.

_A strange exhaustion settled over him. He knew he was slowing. His limbs felt like lead and it seemed impossible to hold himself above the water._

_Instead he stared across the pool at the hunter watching him. She didn’t look like any of the hunters he had seen before, dressed in simple clothes with nothing but her gun across her lap and this cage to master him. He found his gaze shifting, focusing on her face and hair._

_Never had he seen a human with such a bright shade of orange. It reminded him of home, the water that steamed hotly from the neighboring lava pits. Why had he left again? He couldn't remember, his thoughts kept scrambling and he couldn’t think straight anymore._

_What had she done to him?_

_He should be fighting! Freeing himself and taking his revenge! But he couldn’t._

_She was saying something when sleep finally overtook him._

_~~~~~_

_The water was freezing against his gills, making them ache with every breath. His tail ached too; not only was it dry, it was bent awkwardly over something hard. It twitched and he winced for how the hard something dug into his skin._

_His face seemed to be dry, his hair too, judging by the way it slid easily over his face.Too tired to move, too tired to try to ease the ache with whatever weak splash of water he could muster. A low chirp rose from the back of his throat._

_He only realized there was movement when suddenly there was none. The small pool he was lying in no longer splashed against his sides. It felt colder than ever. He had barely opened his mouth to whine when he felt a warmth at the top of his head._

_It was the red haired woman. She shushed him gently, pulling her hand away to take a bucket sitting on the ground beside her. She went back and forth, bringing steaming  water, gradually making the tub warmer. He couldn’t keep himself from drifting off again._

_~~~~~_

_It was like dragging himself from a fog. His mind was sluggishly trying to pull itself together again, but the rest of him just wanted to sleep. Reality seemed to be piecing itself together anyway._

_He was fully submerged this time around. The water was cold._

_His tail no longer ached as it had, but there was something odd about it. Things came to him slowly. There was a slight sting in his upper left arm. Another in his side. Something was weighing down on his tail._

_He sat up, hair following him to crowd around his face as he pressed a hand to his head._

_Bandages. There were bandages covering the tip of his tail. He lurched forward and tore them off, revealing what had once been the pretty gash from a harpoon the week earlier. It was sealed closed somehow, and looked healthy. It wouldn’t be leaving a scar when it healed. He snarled and lay back down again._

_Stupid red haired woman had done something to it. Now he would lose the scar, the mark of his victory over a near death. He could always try to mess with it, he supposed._

_Not now though. He found himself too tired to care anymore._

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kudos are super appreciated!!
> 
> i eat them. they fuel me.


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